The Gal Game Heroines Who Were Supposed to Die Somehow Learned My Secret ～By the Way, Where Did My [Diary] Go?～ - Chapter 13: [Four Beauties] side 3

Chapter 13: [Four Beauties] side 3

The room was wrapped in silence. The faint sway of the white curtains invited a warm breeze into the hospital room. On the bed, surrounded by solemn-faced girls who had just graduated high school, lay Satoshi Iriya, unmoving.

His body was wrapped almost entirely in bandages, leaving only small patches of skin visible. His eyelids remained closed, completely still—so much so that he could easily be mistaken for a corpse.

“When will you wake up? There’s so much I want to ask you, so much I want to say to you…”

I━━━Satsuki Saionji━muttered softly, hoping my words would somehow reach him as he slept.

He hadn’t regained consciousness for several days. According to the doctor, he narrowly escaped death thanks to the prompt medical attention he received. However, there was a chance he might remain in a vegetative state, never to wake again.

“I’ll come again…”

At my signal, we all stood up. None of us said a word as we left the hospital room. Ever since that day, whenever we had free time, we would come here.

We wanted him to wake up soon. But it wasn’t a pure or noble wish for the recovery of a lifesaver—it was a selfish, desperate desire for our own sake.

We wanted to know what we were. Why he saved us.

What will happen to us from now on━

Clinging to the life of a person who hovers between life and death for such selfish, dirty reasons made me despise myself. Judging by their faces, the others felt the same.

━Perhaps, even this situation was orchestrated.

That unsettling thought wouldn’t leave my mind. It felt as though the ground beneath us might vanish at any moment, sending us all plummeting into an endless abyss.

“…Everyone, may I have a moment?”

Walking at the back of the group, Shinonome-san stopped. We all turned to look at her.

“What is it?”

“…I used the influence of the Shinonome family to investigate the person known as Satoshi Iriya.”

For a moment, her use of the word “investigate” left us stunned.

“Heh… As expected of the princess of the Shinonome conglomerate.” 

Kitagawa-san looked at her with curiosity. Though she spoke with a hint of sarcasm, her interest was impossible to hide. The same went for me and Nanjou-san.

“What I’m about to tell you must not leave this group. Some of what I did skirts the edges of legality.”

“Got it~. My lips are sealed.”

The mention of “illegality” in Shinonome-san’s words sent a wave of tension through us, but Nanjou-san’s casual response defused it. For anyone else, such a carefree attitude might have warranted a smack, but her natural innocence made it forgivable.

We moved to a rundown park near the hospital. Nanjou-san and I sat on the swings, Shinonome-san perched on the fence surrounding the area, pulling out her smartphone, while Kitagawa-san leaned against a support pole with her arms crossed, keeping watch for anyone approaching.

“First, about Satoshi Iriya’s family situation… It seems he’s estranged from his parents. He’s currently living alone, away from his family.”

“That’s pretty heavy to start with… Do you know why?”

“Yes. From what I gathered by speaking to his relatives, his mother said things like, ‘That’s not my son,’ ‘Give me back my real son,’ and even called him a ‘curse-bringer.’ His father echoed similar sentiments.”

“Does that mean his own parents resent him?”

“Ugh, now I’m scared for when Iriya-kun wakes up…”

The details painted such a bad image of him that both Nanjou-san and I shivered at the thought.

“However, that doesn’t seem to be the case. From what I’ve heard, his reputation among others was actually quite positive.”

“Maybe he acted like a tyrant at home? That happens sometimes. Speaking from experience—my own terrible parents.”

Kitagawa-san’s self-deprecating remark was met with Shinonome-san shaking her head.

“His estrangement from his parents wasn’t due to bad behavior or lack of ability. In fact, it’s the opposite. He was simply too much of a prodigy.”

“Too much of a prodigy…? Uh, what do you mean by that?”

“Exactly what it sounds like. Satoshi Iriya was a ‘genius’ who shouldn’t have been born into an ordinary family. By the time he was in kindergarten, he not only understood basic math but high school-level mathematics. By the time he entered elementary school, he was already dabbling in stocks and foreign exchange markets. In middle school, he took his New Year’s allowance, invested it, and grew it into tens of millions.”

“That’s… amazing~! So he was really that much of a genius.”

“Yes. To be blunt, he far surpasses me.”

Shinonome-san said this with certainty. Considering her reputation as not just one of the best in our high school but one of the most gifted students in the country, it was shocking to hear her admit defeat so readily. It was even more surprising that the time he beat her in a mock exam became such big news at school.

“Huh. That’s unexpected… You’re admitting defeat so easily.”

“Fufu, I’ve never thought of myself as the best in the world. I just assumed the number of people better than me would be few…”

Shinonome-san dismissed Kitagawa-san’s teasing with ease, almost as if she were enjoying it.

“In summary, Satoshi Iriya was so exceptionally gifted that it created an irreparable rift with his parents, consumed by their paranoia, ultimately leading to estrangement.”

“It’s hard to comprehend… Being so brilliant that your own parents doubt you, their own child…”

Normally, this would sound like a story too outlandish to relate to, something to laugh off. But for us, who had Satoshi Iriya’s deeply revealing diary in hand, we couldn’t bring ourselves to blame his parents.

“For his parents, it must have been a tragedy. But perhaps the creators of LoD punished a rebel from the upper world by reincarnating them into the vessel of Satoshi Iriya. Fufu, saying it aloud makes me feel like I’m drafting the plot of a poorly written sci-fi novel.”

“Don’t sound so amused about it…”

“My apologies. It’s just that encountering the unknown is so thrilling.”

Shinonome-san seemed to be thoroughly enjoying herself. Though she’d always given the impression of a calm, composed heiress, her current demeanor leaned more toward that of an over-curious troublemaker.

Kitagawa-san, who had been leaning against the swing set’s support pole, straightened up and shot an impatient look at Shinonome-san, urging her to continue.

“Hey, Shinonome-san, why don’t you tell us what you’re planning already?”

“What do you mean?”

“I doubt you stopped us here just to share this story. Unless you simply wanted someone to talk to, let’s not forget—we were all rivals in love, weren’t we? Isn’t it natural to think you have some kind of motive?”

Rivals…

Kitagawa’s words rang true. Back when we were all in love with him, I had often resented the other three. Each one of them was beautiful, charming, and utterly captivating. I had fought desperately to stand out, but now, those days felt like a distant memory.

“Kitagawa-san is right. We were once rivals. It’s true that there was tension between us in the past.”

Shinonome-san looked at each of us directly.

“However, I can no longer see it that way. If anything, I believe we are now comrades, united by the same suffering.”

“What…?”

The word “comrades” coming from Shinonome-san’s mouth surprised us. Our relationship had never been one that could be described as clean or pure, but hearing her say it felt like finally naming the emotion that had been quietly building within me toward the other three.

“…You know what? That actually sounds good!”

“Yeah! I think so too~.”

When I exchanged glances with Nanjou-san, we both couldn’t help but laugh awkwardly. We were all characters in the world of LoD, victims of its story. But knowing we weren’t alone brought an unexpected sense of comfort.

Even if we had once been enemies. Or perhaps, because we had been enemies, we understood each other’s inner thoughts and could paradoxically trust one another.

“Comrades… comrades, huh.”

Kitagawa-san was muttering to herself.

“Something wrong?”

“Well, um…”

I called out to her, and she flinched as though startled. Did I say something that warranted such an overreaction?

Kitagawa-san hesitated, visibly conflicted, before finally muttering in a small voice.

“Wouldn’t… ‘friends’ be better than ‘comrades’…?”

“Eh…?”

“Friends~?”

“Is that what you mean?”

Nanjou-san, Shinonome-san, and I exchanged glances before looking back at Kitagawa-san. Her pale complexion turned bright red in an instant.

“F-Forget it! That was just a passing thought. ‘Comrades’ is fine—”

“That’s great! I like that idea better!”

“Huh?”

I instinctively grabbed Kitagawa-san’s hand. Despite her cold, composed appearance, her hand was warm to the touch.

“Fufu, enemies becoming friends. That sounds wonderful, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah~. I think ‘friends’ is much better than ‘comrades.’”

“Ah… well, I’m glad. My first friends…”

Kitagawa-san looked so relieved, it was almost unbearably adorable. She seemed completely different from the person we knew at school. Stunningly beautiful, yet undeniably cute. We all gazed at her warmly.

“In that case, I’ll call you Reine, okay? Shuna, Shino, that works for you too, right?”

“…! Yeah, of course~. Nice to meet you, Satsuki-chan. And Reine-chan, Shino-chan.”

“Yes. I’ll address all of you by your names as well. That is… Satsuki-san, Shuna-san, Reine-san… Is that alright?”

“Call me whatever you like. From now on, let’s get along, Satsuki, Shuna, Shino…”

A flower petal brushed against my cheek. Turning around, I saw that the plum blossoms were in full bloom. Known as flowers that herald spring, they now seemed to bless the bond we had just formed in the quiet of the night.

“Fufu, let’s save further bonding for another time. Shall we get to the main topic?”

Shinonome—or rather, Shino—looked at us with a serious expression, and I instinctively straightened my back.

“I want certainty. What is LoD? What about that man? Who is Satoshi Iriya? And most importantly, who is Shino Shinonome? I need to know.”

We all wanted answers to those questions. If the so-called scenario was still in effect, there was no telling when the world enforcement mechanics might twist everything against us again.

“But you know, Satoshi Iriya-kun is still unconscious, isn’t he? The doctors even said he might remain in a vegetative state for the rest of his life…”

“Shuna-san is correct. At present, Satoshi Iriya is the only person who knows the most about this world and is someone we can trust. However, if something happens before he wakes up, it’ll already be too late.”

“Then what do you suggest we do, Shino?”

“…Don’t get embarrassed now.”

“S-Shut up.”

“Alright, alright, we’ll set Reine’s teasing aside for now. So, Shino, what do you propose we do?”

The conversation, which had started to veer off course, was brought back on track. Shino cleared her throat and continued.

“I propose we visit the apartment where Satoshi Iriya currently resides.”

““”Eh?”””

“I’ve already arranged for access to the key. Don’t worry, everything’s taken care of.”

That’s not the issue here…

“Fufu, Satoshi Iriya is meticulous enough to keep a diary for three years. If we go to his apartment, there’s bound to be some kind of physical evidence. I’m not saying it’ll answer all our questions, but it should help clarify some of them… Is something wrong?”

Shino noticed the bitter expressions on our faces. Shuna, looking troubled, was the first to speak up.

“Shino-chan~, wouldn’t that technically be trespassing~?”

“Yes, and?”

She looked genuinely puzzled.

“I did mention at the start, didn’t I? This must remain a secret. If anyone else were to find out about this, fufu, what do you suppose would happen?”

“Maybe I should rethink this whole friendship thing…”

“It’s far too late for that☆.”

Reine’s strained smile was met with Shino’s most radiant grin, complete with a wink.

Even if we’ve become friends, it’s still hard to understand the way the wealthy think…

━━━

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